When you paste in your essays from word, how should they go? The common app prompts say keep hard spacing to a minimum and to eliminate tabs. So, let me get this right, it should be block formatted single spaced? What is a hard return? Should it go like choice A or choice B? Help.

Choice A: Martha is an amazing pet donkey. I have known her for seven years. When we go to the park it is a thrill. We have lots of fun.

Choice B: Martha is an amazing pet donkey. I have known her for seven years.

When we go to the park it is a thrill. We have lots of fun.

I am having a problem with the printing the common app as well (more in terms of spacing). I used hard returns like choice b and now everything is on a "Cont..." page i.e. it says see additional information where the essays should be. I'd like to have my application not be 9 pages. I guess it would fit with a type like choice A, but that just seems awkward. I'm sure Morgantruce or Serene will help me out on this one. If you could show me how it should be with an example or two that would be great. Thanks.

The characters still do not fit. It bumps all of my essays onto the "additional info" pages. Is this normal? My essays are in the word limit range. So is this a normal or a freak happening? My common app becomes like 9 pages...

You do have the option of just saying, "See essay titled "______" being mailed in with signature page." Then just print out your essays and mail them in. This is the sort of thing that you're up against with something as limiting as the Common Application. I found that the Com Ap did not save any time at all. It might save the COLLEGES some time, but that is all.

You know you DO have the option of just printing out the common application and mailing it--along with your essays that are printed out normally on regular paper..... hmmmm....now that I think of it, that's exactly what we did! ...and the essay was the reason we did it that way. Sorry---took me a while to get that together.

Just in case you hadn't noticed something about the internet: all the so-called "paperless" forms you can submit online are only paperless for the receiver! They are enormous wasters of paper AND TIME for the sender!

You watch, you'll put more time into doing the common app for 10 colleges than if you just sent 10 regular paper applications (using pre-printed/pasted blurbs for the big paragraphs.) The paper apps will also "look" better. Just my ever so humble rarely-given opinion...